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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29932920">it’s gonna sting me when i leave this town</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>a broke-down melody [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous Relationships, Angst, Demonic Possession, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prison, no beta we die, takes place before tommy gets trapped</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:33:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,187</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29932920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Before everything, George visits Dream in the prison. It doesn’t go as expected.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>a broke-down melody [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2199384</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>162</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>it’s gonna sting me when i leave this town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvloverlee/gifts">luvloverlee</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanulmiro/gifts">hanulmiro</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>don't be creepy about content creators, these are my interpretations of their personas, if they're uncomfortable this will be deleted, etc etc</p><p> </p><p>title from jack johnson's "breakdown"</p><p>ambiguous relationship for io r1r9ka &amp; "just anything" for karri eastgable!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sapnap comes to George to tell him about the final fight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He's as apathetic as ever. He knows he lost Dream a long time ago, back when he asked Dream not to start a war for him and Dream didn’t listen. He claimed it was all for George, everything was for George. George didn’t want any of it. George has never wanted any of it. He told Dream as much, and Dream never listened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Punz is recruiting us,” Sapnap says. “I don’t know what we’ll do with Dream, but he’s not going to walk free any longer. He’s been terrorizing people too much.” They’re sitting at the kitchen table of a small house that’s far from everything else, a place only Sapnap knows the location of, a place George built before war and chaos and the discs and Tommy. It was his back-up plan. He didn’t think he’d have to use it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sapnap is holding a mug of hot cider that George made himself. George thinks that he should feel something, some sense of pain for his… well, his whatever Dream is. They’ve never talked about the longing looks shared between the two of them, the fact that Dream practically became a god to protect George, everything that he’s done since then. They’ve never had to talk about it. They know they love each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, George isn’t so sure. When you love someone, you communicate with them, tell them what’s going on. You make decisions together. Dream hasn’t done that with George in a long time. And it hurts, doesn’t it, watching the one you love more than anything drift away from you? And George is a little mad, and a little sad, and more than a little confused about everything. So if Sapnap is going to try and take Dream down- well, George isn’t going to stop him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” George says to Sapnap, and that’s the end of that conversation. Sapnap leaves, and a few days later George is buzzed on his communicator by Karl saying that Dream’s been put in the prison. He thinks that he should feel something, but there’s nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Or maybe he’s just telling himself there’s nothing, so that he doesn’t get hurt. Or at least, any more hurt than he’s already been. Maybe he’s just pretending he’s apathetic to the whole situation in order to protect himself. Sapnap goes to visit Dream at the prison and when he comes to see George afterwards he </span>
  <em>
    <span>does</span>
  </em>
  <span> feel something, a boatload of righteous anger at the fact that Dream just ignored his best friend, his </span>
  <em>
    <span>brother</span>
  </em>
  <span> like that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go home, Sapnap,” George says, his voice coming out harsh, cold, and he ends up taking Sapnap back to Karl and Quackity. He sits with them for a while, all of them still slightly in shock over the whole thing, and eventually, he gets up to leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?” Karl asks. “Home?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure,” George replies, and he begins to make the trek to the prison.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t need to walk anywhere, not if he doesn’t want to. A long time ago, he fell in love with a god, and that god fell in love right back. All George needs to do is pull on the lines of code that are holding him together and change them up a little bit, and he’d be able to change the world. He’d be able to make it his.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t do that, though. He never does it. It’s exhausting, and it’s overall just not worth it. Besides, Dream asked him to never change things, so he doesn’t. It was their one rule, when Dream became a god and granted George the powers of a code entity; don’t change things. Don’t manipulate the lines of the Universe to your advantage. And George-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, he has done it. With little things. But never with anything important. So even though he could just reach his hand in and teleport himself to the prison, he doesn’t do that. He walks, just like everyone else, and Sam is waiting for him like he’s been expecting him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Took you long enough,” Sam mutters. “Do you know what he’s been getting up to?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sapnap told me,” George replies. He doesn’t care about the conditions. He doesn’t care if Dream is throwing his clock into the lava to get Sam to visit him. He doesn’t care, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care, and he’s going to keep telling himself that until it’s true.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Sam shrugs in response and leads George through the prison. It’s insane, George thinks, even he would have a hard time breaking out. It’s no wonder Dream hasn’t gotten out yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The truth is, he knows Dream hasn’t gotten out yet because this is part of Dream’s plan. Dream always has a plan, and if he’s still in the prison, it’s somehow involved. He has no idea what that plan could be, but it’s probably something grand. There’ll probably be explosions involved. He’s sure Sapnap will come to him and tell him all about it and he’ll pretend he doesn’t care, and in reality his heart will be bursting with longing, longing for Dream to come home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The lava drops, and there he is. Sam tells him he has twenty minutes. George stares.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not Ranboo,” is the first thing Dream says. George almost wants to laugh, but that- that’s not Dream’s voice. He knows Dream’s voice, and that’s not it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” he replies. He can’t let whoever this is know that he knows. He’ll play its little game for as long as he has to. “Sapnap says you wouldn’t talk to him. Why are you talking to me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re different. You know you are.” It’s said with a sneer, almost. George doesn’t like it. It looks ugly on Dream’s face. His mask is gone, and his hair is longer than it was the last time George saw him. George has half a mind to reach through the bars and chop it off, but he knows he could never reach that far.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What is it, then?” George asks. “Why don’t you want me here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who said I didn’t want you here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is it because I’m not part of your plan?” He swallows down all the hurt that’s been bubbling in the pit of his stomach over the past few weeks. He needs to keep his cool. He needs to draw it out. Whatever it is- and he’s starting to think, maybe, that Sapnap and Tubbo were right when they were going on about Dreamons- he’s going to kill it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What plan?” Dream’s voice softens. The thing has caught its mistake. “George, what are you-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t lie to me, Dream! I know you have a plan, that’s why you wanted to see Ranboo, that’s why you’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>disappointed</span>
  </em>
  <span> it’s me-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not disappointed it’s you, George, I always want to see you, you know that-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, you don’t, not now! I’m not of any use to you, just- just say you hate me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine!” the thing roars, and for the first time George has real, solid proof that his theory is right, in the form of glowing green eyes and teeth that look a bit too sharp. There’s an eerie green glow surrounding him, and when George reaches underneath to the layers of code in the Universe, there’s something blocking Dream. Dream never blocks himself off, even when they’re far apart George can seek him out- this is unusual. This is wrong.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The thing seems to sense George’s presence and it snarls, pressing Dream’s body up against the bars of the cage. George stumbles back, afraid for just a moment, before holding his ground. “I hate you!” the thing roars, and its voice is farther from Dream’s than it has ever been. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” George says, letting out a watery laugh. There are hot tears in his eyes, from the heat or from the fact that this isn’t Dream or something else he doesn’t know. Maybe it’s because Dream has never pushed him away when he’s reached out to entwine their code together, and now he is. “That is what I wanted to hear. What are you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This is not how he thought this visit would go. He thought he would maybe yell at Dream a little, the real Dream, get an explanation for everything that’s been going on. Now, he doesn’t need to. He knows. He knows why Dream has been like this, he just doesn’t know how long this thing has been here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am Dream,” the thing says. “And Dream is me. You should hear the way he cries out for you, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>pathetic-</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then he stops, just for a moment. It’s like he’s fighting with himself, and George smiles, George knows that’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> Dream in there, trying to get control. It works, for just a moment, and the green glow disappears and Dream’s eyes fade back to normal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“George,” Dream gasps out, sinking down to the ground, and George dives forward. He presses their hands together with the bars in between them, and Dream clutches at his fingers desperately. He reaches for Dream’s code, and this time it comes crashing to meet him. He tries to be reassuring, murmuring sweet nothings to Dream, trying to calm him down. “I’m so sorry,” Dream chokes out. “For everything, I-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” George says soothingly. “We’re going to fix this, don’t worry. I’ve got you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something in Dream’s gaze hardens, and he recognizes the way Dream’s stance shifts to something predatory. The Dreamon has returned, and it isn’t happy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>George can feel something in Dream’s code shoving at him, pushing him back, and it’s enough to physically shove him backward. George can feel his palms scraping against the ground and the hot sting of blood, and he stares at the thing in horror as it rises up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See?” it says tauntingly. “Pathetic. Both of you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s still better than you could ever be,” George says. He needs to be antagonizing it when Sam comes back, needs to prove that it’s real, needs to-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What could he do? He can’t get a demon to stop possessing someone. He’s no exorcist, no demon expert. He’s just a scared kid that wants his lover back, and all he knows how to do is mess around with the settings a little bit. He’s nowhere near powerful enough to take on a demon that’s inhabiting a god.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knows what he needs. He needs Sapnap. He needs to get Sapnap back in here and show him what’s going on, and then get Tubbo and Fundy to fucking destroy this thing. He doesn’t know how long it’s been possessing his best friend, but it’s not going to be doing so for very much longer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And in the meantime- in the meantime, the desperate look in Dream’s eyes is going to be haunting George’ nightmares for a while. Luckily, he doesn’t need to stare Dream down for much longer. The lava drops again as Sam returns. His stare switches between the two of them for a moment as Dream’s figure fades back to normal and he slinks back into the corner of the cell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“What did he say to you?” Sam asks. George shakes his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing</span>
  </em>
  <span> isn’t Dream,” he tells Sam. “I’ll be back. Hopefully with Sapnap. We’re going to take care of this.” He turns back to Dream and reaches out toward his code again, prodding at it. Dream snarls and backs further into the corner, his eyes barely beginning to glow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sam gives him a confused look. “What do you mean, it isn’t him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you remember the Dreamons?” Sam nods. “So do I.” He reaches out again, this time faster, pressing harder, and Dream actually lets out a full-on growl. The eerie green glow returns, teeth sharp, and Sam takes a step back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With one final glare at the thing inhabiting his best friend’s body, George turns away. “How do I get out of here?” he mutters.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You die,” Sam says, still looking like he’s a bit in shock. “Non-permanent. But- I have to kill you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No need,” George snorts. With his back to Dream, he steps into the lava.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s refreshing, almost, feeling himself burn. He can feel Dream screaming, like he’s burning, too, and his heart stutters.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He respawns in his bed, in his home far away from everything else. He doesn’t know if he can face Dream again. That felt awful, seeing him like that, seeing him so </span>
  <em>
    <span>helpless</span>
  </em>
  <span>- he isn’t used to seeing Dream helpless. He’s used to Dream being the strong one, the protective one, the one who always has a plan. How much of that was a demon in disguise?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Either way, he doesn’t know if he can do it again. Not without trying to kill the demon himself. So he pulls out his communicator and buzzes Sapnap as quickly as possible, knowing that it’s late and Sapnap is hopefully asleep. It doesn’t matter. They can deal with it tomorrow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Come see me,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he says. </span>
  <em>
    <span>We need to talk.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p> </p><p>comments/kudos/etc are always appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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